What it’s like to compete in a Hyrox for the first time
In April of 2026 I decided to sign up to Perth Hyrox which ran in August. This was my first ever hyrox race, after only ever running 10km and never touching a ski erg, sled, or wall balls in my life. Or ever doing a burpee broad jump before. Here is a recap of my experience, and what I learnt.
So, first of all, what is a Hyrox? It is an indoor race consisting of 8 x 1km runs, and between each run is an exercise station; ski erg, sled push, sled pull, row, burpee broad jumps, sandbag lunges, farmers carries and wall balls. The majority of your time is spent running, however, the exercises should not be overlooked and absolutely need to be trained for.
My fitness level in April of 2026 was mediocre, at best. I was lifting weights (upper/lower split) four times per week and running once per week for 5–10km. According to Strava, my PB 5k was sitting at 24:23 on a 4:53/km pace, and I had never touched a conditioning/hyrox class before. My 10km was 53:03 with a 5:18/km split. Not the worst times considering I was doing cardio once per week and not too fussed.
So I spoke to a trainer and put together a loose plan for me to follow. It was a lot. I was meant to run twice per week between 5–15km, 3 strength sessions per week, 2 hyrox cardio sessions and 1 zone 2 session. So overnight I went from lifting weights 4 times per week and running once casually to now an enormous increase in load. This also meant an increase in cortisol, an increase in hunger, and more early mornings and double session days. My first 2 weeks I was loving it. The hyrox cardio sessions were tough but I enjoyed them, and my legs were slowly getting used to the runs and shin splints faded away. I was comfortably running 7–10km every session and going hard, aiming for PB’s every time.
Get Corporate Athlete’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Then it all came crashing down. I wasn’t sleeping enough to flush the cortisol and recover, my body was constantly sore and the training load simply wasn’t sustainable. I started making excuses for missing sessions; work was too important, I need the extra sleep (I probably did…), I’ve got so much time to prepare etc. I was also juggling moving cities and this got in the way as well.
Before I knew it, June had arrived, I was 8 weeks away from competition and I hadn’t touched a sled, was barely running 15km per week and I hadn’t been on the ski erg in almost one month. So I shifted gear. June 11th I punched out a 45min 10k at 4:35/km pace. Clearly my training had been paying off and even though I had slacked off, it was a massive improvement from my baseline. My hyrox training was going smoothly. So I decided to join a hyrox training partner gym and really get into it. I started training the sled push. It ruined me and I was seeing stars every session. The running between stations and after the sled was impossible. Then after two weeks of being in a groove, I stumbled again. Early July and I could barely walk. I had sciatica pain shooting down my right leg and pulsing out of my hip flexor. I did too little and then too much. So with one month to go I had to seriously dial back training and sit on the bike doing zone 2. This ruined my psychological excitement for the event and for training; I was sleeping poorly, eating poorly and barely doing 3 zone 2 sessions per week. But I did see a physiotherapist weekly and he gave me mobility exercises to be ready for race day — I took these very seriously.
By the time Hyrox Perth came around, I was relatively anxious. Waiting in line for the athlete check in and seeing all the other athletes and the course, I felt that I was under prepared. I went for a shakeout run the day before, and something clicked. I felt good. Yes my preparation wasn’t perfect, but I still trained. I still did zone 2 at least once per week every week. Tomorrow would be a good fun experience just to say I’ve done it, even if it takes me 3 hours, I know I can finish. I was calm. I sipped on 3 Powerades, ate a half a loaf of sourdough and retreated to my hotel by 7pm to get my beauty sleep.
Race day was here. Safe to say my sleep in the hotel bed was pretty poor — whoop clocked me at 49% recovery with 109HRV and a RHR of 47. Not ideal but certainly could be worse. I did warm up laps outside the Perth exhibition centre and ate a banana and sipped on a black coffee with some honey. Then in for the warm up — my game plan was simple — get my heart rate up to 120bpm before the race even started, go in hot and avoid blowing up in the first 15mins. Then stay consistent with the runs sitting around a 5:45 pace, use them to get my breath back and go into each station strong. My nerves were through the roof at the countdown but I stayed disciplined, and the first run was great. I even had another competitor tell me he liked my pace and we ran that first lap together. Into the ski erg feeling strong. The first half went surprisingly better than I anticipated, however, I knew my runs were slower than they should be but I needed to get my breath back and pace myself. Then I hit the rower which was meant to be my safe place. It was my favourite station and I always felt fine after it in training. Something was different, by 500m my legs were broken and I was open mouth breathing. I hit the 1km mark and stood up, seeing stars, barely able to hold myself up. Stumbled to find the “Out” sign and back onto the run track. Oh shit. I had blown up. The next 3 runs were below 6:00 pace on my Garmin, but I pushed through. Then farmers carries came which I hadn’t trained once, that should be easy right? Wrong. What should have taken me 2mins took me 4mins. Finally the last run, almost there and wall balls. Oh — wall balls. Those things I also neglected in training. 130 wall balls (30 of them didn’t count) and 9 mins later, I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:30:45. Not bad going considering my goal was 90mins. Even through all the falterings in training, I still managed to get close. 4 days later my legs were still battered and I couldn’t walk up stairs. Now I know what to expect. Now I know I can push harder on the runs, better prepare for wall balls and farmers carries, and maybe practice the row more often. My biggest anxiety (sled push & pull) was actually surprisingly smooth.
So — what did I learn? Hyrox is hard. But, it’s also lots of fun, and then excitement comes from doing something hard and finishing it — not necessarily from breaking records. To fly to another state, compete in an event, and learn more about myself and my mental strength was all absolutely worth it. Now we go for Melbourne in December.
